THE AVATAR IN PANAMA - Theses - Flinders University

2.3 Dobles and Duplos: Latin American Perspectives The Avatar in PanamaPero tuvo la impresión de que las palabrashabían permanecido presas en sus ganas dedecirlas. 25Patricia Mosier hypothesises that the double which remainsintact does not reject public language; in fact she claims it is thestruggle to make oneself heard that creates the other. 26 In trying toreassure his wife that he is alive and well, the words he longs toarticulate remain as being wanting to be said: “continuó queriendogritarles que él tampoco comprendía, que en realidad no importaba”(36). Perhaps one does not possess a sense of self until languageassigns the subject an identity, an I.In “Suicidio”, the desperate protagonist’s plans for an arrangedand measured suicide are thwarted by his wife’s untimely arrival: “Habíaque hacerlo y ya. Sin perder tiempo. Ella podía llegar en cualquiermomento y entonces no hallaría el valor. […] Alguien tocaba a lapuerta. de apretar el gatillo. Seguían tocando. […] No podía. Bajó lapistola.” (35). In “El fantasma” plans are similarly foiled by aninopportune entrance: “‘¡No entres!’ - gritó él, pero sin voz. Era tarde.La mujer se arrojó sobre su marido y al sentirlo exánime lloró y lloró.‘¡Cállate! ¡Lo has echado todo a perder!’ - gritaba él, pero sin voz.” (86).Thus, in both “Suicidio” and “El fantasma”, the narrator’s voice in deathfails him. There are more sinister overtones however; even shades ofStevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde: “Qué mala suerte! ¿Por qué no se lehabría ocurrido encerrarse con llave durante la experiencia. Ahora, contestigo, ya no podía resucitar; estaba muerto, definitivamente muerto.¡Qué mala suerte!” (86) The inference that his fate is sealed becausethe result of his experiment was witnessed only adds to the ambience ofmystery. 27A Double Trilogy: Jorge Luis BorgesAs with many of the European writers whose work he admiredand aspired to, Jorge Luis Borges’ stories generally had their origins in25 Jaramillo Levi, “Suicidio”, Duplicaciones 35.26 Mosier “Caja de resonancias” 3-9.27 As the idea of a witness is a frequent theme throughout the fiction of EnriqueJaramillo Levi, it is worth noting the omission of the English translation of “Ahora, contestigo” (86): “What bad luck! Why hadn’t it occurred to him to lock himself in duringthe experiment? Now he could no longer come to life: he was dead, definitely dead.What bad luck!” Anderson Imbert, “The ghost”, The Other Side of the Mirror, trans.Isabel Reade. (London: Macdonald, 1968) 16-19. 17.127